Hagel’s face says it all

Wow, what an awfully long day! What a roller coaster of emotion! Kevin Baron has the full rundown. There were spats between friends — though it seems like if John McCain and Chuck Hagel are still on speaking terms, they’ll be frenemies from here on out. There were flubs — a frequently flustered Hagel fumbling ...

Kevin Baron has the full rundown. There were spats between friends — though it seems like if John McCain and Chuck Hagel are still on speaking terms, they’ll be frenemies from here on out. There were flubs — a frequently flustered Hagel fumbling on Iran (specifically the issue of containment), senators with gotcha questions (Sen. Lindsey Graham at one point even interrupted to point out to Hagel, “I gotcha!”), and pandering all around. All in all it was the most dramatic piece of Washington theater since…well, inauguration was only two weeks ago.

It remains to be seen what effect Hagel’s performance will have on his confirmation prospects. Josh Rogin reports that today’s hearing has lost Hagel votes, but it seems doubtful that support will crater completely. But that’s for another day.

For now, we pause to take one last look…at the looks of Chuck Hagel. We feel you, Chuck. It was ups and downs all day.

And if you think this post is an excuse for this .gif we made, it is.

J. Dana Stuster is a policy analyst at the National Security Network. Twitter: @jdanastuster